What’s the schedule for deciding which bases to close or realign?
A8. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will recommend closures and other changes to a Base Realignment and Closure Commission by May 16. Commission members will visit bases recommended for closure and hold public hears. Then they will vote on whether to accept, reject or change the recommendations. Past BRAC Commissions approved about 85 percent of the Pentagon’s list. The BRAC Commission report will be sent to the White House in September for President Bush to accept or reject in its entirety. If he rejects its, the BRAC Commission goes back to work. If he approves it, Congress has 45 days to reject or accept the list. If Congress rejects the list, no bases are closed.